Inside, I Am There
by DramaQueenNmber1
Summary: He had always been there, he would always be there. Because they were the same. He is her mentor, her friend. And she is his legacy. One-shot


**This was inspired by the song "We Are One" and "He Lives In You" **_**from Lion King 2**_** and the Broadway version of **_**Lion King**_

Korra never told anyone about him, not even Master Katara, the man clad in orange and red, with blue arrows on his head and hands. He had appeared to her at first when she was very young, she was running to her favorite spot after she had finished her chores. It was a high overhang where you saw a vast valley of ice, for which there seemed to be no end, and when she arrived she found a man sitting there his legs crossed and his fists pressed together.

"What are you doing here?" Even at that age Korra had been defiant and stubborn, and she didn't take well to someone sitting in her spot.

"Waiting for you, little one." The man cracked one eye open and smiled at her. Korra decided she liked him.

"Why?" She sat down next to him, waving her tiny legs over the side of the overhang, watching the snow spin in time with her movements.

"Because, I have waited a long time to meet you."

Korra was confused but didn't ask any more questions, she was usually cautious of foreigners, but she felt no threat from this man. She looked over at him shyly and found him staring into the ice valley with a very serious look on his face. Her father sometimes got that look when the Tribal Elders visited. So Korra did what she did with her father. She got up and tugged on his sleeve.

"Come penguin sledding with me!"

The man's eyes widened at the request, but then his face lit up in a giant smile, he brought up a large hand and ruffled her dark hair.

"I would like nothing better little one."

And thus Korra found her best friend.

Over the years Korra met with the man (whom she called Arrow, he had never told her his real name.) She would meet him nearly every day on the overhang, she would tell him about her day and he would smile and nod, he got particularly dewy-eyed whenever she mentioned Master Katara. He taught her to change and flow with the Water that surrounded her, taught her that Fire is not only destruction, but life. Taught her to stand firm and strong like the Earth beneath her feet, and to let her spirit soar with the Winds. He introduced her to an abandoned polar bear dog cub who had licked Korra until she fell back into the snow laughing insanely. He would ruffle her hair as he had done that first day whenever she was frustrated with the White Lotus or anything else for that matter.

"It's like they expect me to be this great messiah! Filled with so much wisdom! But I'm not! I'm just a kid!" She groaned in frustration and sat down heavily in the snow.

Arrow laughed and ruffled her hair and she pushed his hand away in annoyance.

"But you're not 'just a kid' Korra, you're the Avatar, Master of all four elements! The Great Bridge between worlds!"

During this speech he had stood up and waved his arms out dramatically, causing Korra to giggle.

He knelt down in front of her and put his hand on her shoulder gently.

"And they're just gonna have to deal with it."

One day when she was 15, Korra went back to the overhang after a particularly hard day, and she found Arrow in the position he was always in. Legs crossed, fists pressed together, eyes closed his breathing even and undisturbed. Korra had noticed that over the last few days he had grown fainter and fainter, but today all his color was gone, and he was glowing a faint blue.

"Arrow?"

He turned and opened his eyes, they were incredibly sad, and Korra had a terrible foreboding.

"Hello little one . . . Come sit with me." Korra sat in the snow next to him.

"I'm not so little anymore you know."

He smiled and ruffled her hair.

"No . . . No you're not." His eyes once again filled with sadness.

Korra didn't want it to be true, but she had felt this day coming, but she had refused to admit it to herself.

"You won't be coming back . . . Will you?"

Just saying the words caused tears to well up in Korra's eyes.

Arrow put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into him, his eyes never leaving the setting sun before them.

"No, I won't."

With those words the tears over flowed Korra's eyes.

Arrow pulled himself around and knelt in front of her, forcing her to look into his eyes.

"But I will never truly leave you Korra." His hand was warm as he placed it over her heart.

"I live in you, I watch you every moment and I always will. We are one Korra."

Korra nodded, and she threw her arms around his neck.

"I'll make you proud, I promise."

Arrow hugged her back tightly, and when he pulled away he was even fainter then before. Tears streaking down his fading cheeks.

"You already have, little one. You already have."

He smiled at her one last time as he slowly faded into the sunset.

Wiping the tears from her face, Korra placed her hand on the place where Arrow's had been. She raised her face to the darkening sky, the stars looking like tiny eyes winking at her from afar. A cold breeze blew out of nowhere, ruffling her hair in a very familiar way.

"Thank you . . . Aang."


End file.
